Classical homeschooling in Southern California

Nature Study: Oak Canyon Nature Center

So we actually did this one a few weeks ago but I’m just now getting to it. We visited Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim Hills. This is a great place to visit when it’s hot out because it’s in a canyon, obviously, and it remains a lot cooler than other areas. There are plenty of large trees everywhere that provide shade and even a little man made stream.

The kids were excited to be outside this day!

We got to see some cool things like several large rat nests.

There were plenty of bridges to cross over.

And cool things to see in the water like these pond skippers. I love the look of the shadows they cast on the stream bed.

Life and death, we also saw some crawdaddy legs, and on the floor the rest of him. The ants were sure happy. I wonder if a bird caught him since he was up on top of the bridge on the hand rail?

We stopped for lunch after our hike and I broke out our old nature journal from last year. Green Bubbles surprised me by actually drawing something that #1, we actually saw on our hike, and #2, something besides just scribbles! He’s really growing up. There are even bird eggs in his bird house.

After lunch there was a fun game of hike and seek.

And then the kids discovered the creek!

They made a dam between the rocks out of loose sticks they found in the area. Using small cups and bags they even collected mud to help strengthen their dam.